GOP senators are furious about the Trump administration’s plan to give $12 billion to farmers hurt by Trump’s own trade war.

President Donald Trump set off a wave of outrage on Tuesday among Republican lawmakers, who accused the president of authorizing a “bailout” and “welfare” for Americans caught in the crosshairs of his own tariffs.

“It’s awful. American farmers want markets, not handouts. This is what we feared all along—that this would just turn into more aid programs,” Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) told The Daily Beast.

Reactions—nearly all of them negative—poured in from Capitol Hill after the Department of Agriculture announced that it would authorize $12 billion in “emergency” subsidies to farmers whose businesses have been hurt by the president’s trade policies, which have sparked retaliatory tariffs from China, Canada, Mexico, and the European Union.

Sen. John Thune (R-SD) said the Department of Agriculture’s decision is an acknowledgement of the “unintended consequences” and “collateral damage” of Trump’s protectionist policies, while Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) said Trump was creating a “Soviet type economy.” Others questioned the administration’s overall strategy but said the newly authorized subsidies were a necessary buffer to help farmers that have already been adversely affected by the swelling trade war.

“They’re not going to be able to survive if this continues down the same path,” Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) said of the farmers in his state. “If it means having a short-term aid package, that’s better than nothing. Certainly we all agree that a free-trade plan long-term is really what we need.”

Conservative lawmakers, who have long derided bailouts and welfare, suggested that the Trump administration was embracing liberal economics.

“Our farmers have been in non-stop saying they want trade not aid. And now they’re being put on welfare. So the tariff policies that have been put in place by the administration are now causing them to invoke a welfare policy for our farmers, which I’m sure is not what they wish,” Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), who has proposed legislation requiring congressional approval of some tariffs, told reporters.

“The administration creates a problem for farmers, and now they need to put them on welfare. I think that’s kind of a misplaced policy,” Corker added.

In a later statement, the senator said Tuesday’s announcement was an implicit admission from the Trump administration that its tariff policies are not working. “I am glad that the administration finally seems to understand that the Trump-Pence tariffs are hurting the American people,” he said.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), whose constituents have been ravaged by the president’s trade policies, said the Trump administration should expedite its trade talks with China and other nations in order to lessen the global trade barriers—something the senator said would “do more good than that $12 billion.”

But to date, Congress has done little to substantively push back on Trump’s penchant to impose tariffs in order to correct trade imbalances, even as they’ve warned that the tariffs could hurt Republicans running for re-election this year. Corker’s bill has broad bipartisan support but Senate Republican leaders have thus far declined to take up the legislation.

“What is the endgame? What is it that gets us into, or keeps us in a [trade] agreement? And what gets us out of the ever-escalating tariff one-upsmanship?” a frustrated Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) said.

7/25/18 2:43 AM

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leaot

Joined:Member Since: 8/8/13Posts: 1783

Waiting for conservative tears...

7/25/18 2:47 AM

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HoboSkillet

Joined:Member Since: 9/3/12Posts: 3253

7/25/18 2:49 AM

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Rahjai MD

Joined:Member Since: 5/5/07Posts: 11237

bunch of free loading hypocrites.

7/25/18 3:52 AM

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Thage

Joined:Member Since: 10/27/05Posts: 35406

Hey the farmers are just fighting for a living wage guys!

They may strike until they get $15 billion!

7/25/18 5:45 AM

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haya1340

Joined:Member Since: 5/16/10Posts: 3719

They're just mad because the corn and soy bean subsidies are about to get cut off like they should have been in the 70's

7/25/18 7:27 AM

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AlphaSlap

Joined:Member Since: 6/1/10Posts: 15085

Yesterday I saw a farmer buying lobster and steak on his ebt card. Then, he and his whole family got into an Escalade with custom rims!

7/25/18 7:38 AM

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ksacs revenge

Joined:Member Since: 11/20/13Posts: 6440

We should offset that $12b with even more coporate tax cuts.

7/25/18 7:41 AM

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Sebastiaan

Joined:Member Since: 9/16/02Posts: 6078

Ill Portents - You know we're winning the trade war when the administration has to start doling out $12 billion aid packages to the industries that weren't among the tiny few benefiting from it.

Yeah - most industries and people will feel the effects of this war - it will cost him 2020 imho.

7/25/18 8:57 AM

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Junnk

Joined:Member Since: 1/2/15Posts: 5123

Kwang -

This redistribution of wealth must stop.

In a true free market farmers and corporations would not receive welfare.

This. Compete or sink!

7/25/18 9:25 AM

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Andersons'sPiece

Joined:Member Since: 10/17/06Posts: 1904

In Soviet America right republicans now love welfare and huge spending lmao.......America is officially great again

7/25/18 9:37 AM

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the_sandman

Joined:Member Since: 1/1/01Posts: 10489

12 BILLION TAXPAYER DOLLARS OF PURE SOCIALISM WHICH IS A DIRECT RESULT OF HORRIBLE TRADE POLICY.

Let that ring in your "I am a conservative" ears a bit if you are a misguided Trumper. He is destroying the US economy for everyone while destroying the actual farm markets for his loyal rural supporters.

7/25/18 9:51 AM

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dennisv

Joined:Member Since: 1/1/01Posts: 4736

Kwang -

This redistribution of wealth must stop.

In a true free market farmers and corporations would not receive welfare.

If the corporations don't get subsidies and tax breaks they'll go out of business. Then who would create the jobs?

7/25/18 10:26 AM

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The Noose

Joined:Member Since: 8/25/07Posts: 3926

Sebastiaan -

Ill Portents - You know we're winning the trade war when the administration has to start doling out $12 billion aid packages to the industries that weren't among the tiny few benefiting from it.

Yeah - most industries and people will feel the effects of this war - it will cost him 2020 imho.

Nah, it wont affect his re-election. The people who would vote for Trump couldnt care less about all this "trade" talk. Its too complicated for them to understand so they dont bother. They like his shit talking. He can fuck them and the rest of the country over for generations to come and they will still vote for him.

7/25/18 11:14 AM

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Average

Joined:Member Since: 6/8/08Posts: 9993

The Noose -

Sebastiaan -

Ill Portents - You know we're winning the trade war when the administration has to start doling out $12 billion aid packages to the industries that weren't among the tiny few benefiting from it.

Yeah - most industries and people will feel the effects of this war - it will cost him 2020 imho.

Nah, it wont affect his re-election. The people who would vote for Trump couldnt care less about all this "trade" talk. Its too complicated for them to understand so they dont bother. They like his shit talking. He can fuck them and the rest of the country over for generations to come and they will still vote for him.

This.

He'll also shoot somebody on Time Square, just to make a point. And he's right.

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